


And now what ?

by ichkenndichdreiviertel



Category: Dark (TV 2017)
Genre: Charlotte Doppler/Peter Doppler (mentioned), F/M, Spoilers for season one, Ulrich Nielsen/Hannah Kahnwald (mentioned), Ulrich Nielsen/Katharina Nielsen (mentioned), charlotte is completly lost, mainly focusing on Charlotte and Ulrich, this is a try at guessing what will happen in season 2, ulrich is still stuck in 1953
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-08 05:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13451676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ichkenndichdreiviertel/pseuds/ichkenndichdreiviertel
Summary: It's the first day after Jonas seemingly destroyed the portal. He's now the new missing kid and he's not the only person missing : Ulrich's still gone, stuck in the past. Charlotte is left on her own to try to solve everything and to get everything back to normal.





	1. 2019 — DAY ONE

> _« The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. »_ — Albert Einstein

 

* * *

It had been raining all day. Big raindrops were harshly crashing onto the window glass from the grey skies that looked so heavy they might fall on everyone's head as well. Charlotte had turned her phone down a few hours ago and had since then been sitting in what had once been the office in their home and had turned into her bedroom when they decided they could not go on pretending everything was well between them. On the bed, knees clasped against her chest, watching the raindrops rolling on her window, she felt numb. Empty. She did not know what to think anymore.

 

She had always been a very rational person. Not finding any logical explanation to the problems she had to solve had always left her with a sense of unease, as though she could not fully grasp the world she was living in. It had happened once, thirty-three years ago, as she had watched, helpless, all those birds dropping dead on the ground. She had tried to understand, carefully drawing all the corpses in her notebook, researching for hours in the library the diseases the birds might have gotten and had come back empty handed. She now wished the dead birds were the only mystery she had to solve.

 

The events of the last few weeks and especially the night before had been a mess. All the disappearing kids, the birds once again falling dead from the sky, her father-in-law's cryptic speeches about everything happening once again — everything had turned into a tangle she could not make sense of. What was she to think about Ulrich's picture in a newspaper clip dating all the way back to 1953 ? What about the message he had left on her phone telling her that Helge had taken all the children but in 1986 ? What about everything she had discovered last night ?

 

Peter had told her everything he knew, everything he had witnessed and what Claudia had told Tronte and him, while the lights flickered, as a giant black dome seemed to envelop the whole power plant. She had listened, her eyes wide open and eyebrows arched, not believing her ears. Time travel was a myth. It was not possible. It was a weird scientist fantasy, a mere hypothesis that got nerds all excited, but it definitely could not happen in real life. She had read her grandfather's book, back in the time — at least she had tried, but it had bored her quite easily. No wonder he had not sold many copies, who cared for such things ? Yet, could he have foreseen the future ? Had he predicted this ? For all her refusal to accept time travel as the only plausible explanation, it most surely was the only thing that could tie all the strings.

 

And even if it explained some things, there was still so many puzzle pieces that she did not know where to fit. What had happened to Mikkel, to Yasin, to Erik ? Were they somewhere — _sometime_ — alive ? Were they dead ? Had something similar happened to Madds back in 1986 ? 

 

Ulrich had traveled back in time, back to 1953, hence the picture in the newspaper and had abducted her father-in-law, a mere child at the time, at least that was what the journalist had reported. Yet, he was apprehended for being a child murderer but Helge was still alive — although not well — today. She had seen him yesterday still. She did not quite understand how time traveling worked, but if Helge had been dead, surely it would mean he would disappear from their existence, right ? She had to take another look at her grandfather's book again. Had Ulrich killed someone, then who ? She could not remember what she had read in the article, she had been to focused on his face, trying to comprehend how he had ended up there — it was him, she was sure of it. He had not answered his phone when she had tried to call him and then Peter had told her to come and she had pushed Ulrich back in one corner of her mind, forgetting about him for a while.

 

« Hey... Do you need something ? » Peter's gentle voice startled her. He was standing at the door, a cup of tea in his hands.

She shook her head negatively, « I'm fine. »

« — You don't look fine. »

« — How am I... » She stopped mid-sentence, there was no use getting all defensive. « How are the children ? » She inquired instead. She felt guilty for not finding the strength to be with them right now, for not having been there much the last few weeks, yet she needed quiet to think.

« — Elisabeth's a bit shaken up, the last few days were kinda weird. Fran's not home. »

Charlotte knew she should have been worried about not knowing the whereabouts of her daughter, but it was just too much. She felt as though her brain had shut off after thinking too much.

« — Ok, » she attempted to put on a smile.

« — I'll leave you alone, » he answered, clearly not convinced, but he closed the door and she was back to the quiet of her room once more.

 

She let out a sigh as her eyes trailed away from the bedroom door. They had been happy once. Their house had been full of laughter and they had done everything they could to make their family work, they really did. She may have loved him even, though she cannot remember how it had felt. The growing distance between them had carved out all the happy memories they had made. She could not remember how she and Peter had met — she was a lonely child, minding her own business back then, not the type of girl that had a lot of friends. Peter had not gotten to Winden until the end of her high school years anyway. He was quiet, like her. He was nice. He was intelligent. They had began dating quite rapidly and eventually got married, had two daughters along the way and tried their best. It had not been enough. She had not been enough — although she would never have been enough to begin with.

 

They do not talk about Peter's betrayal anyway. Separate rooms, almost separate lives — it was Franziska and Elisabeth that still brought them together, a cursed burden to wear on their shoulders if she was being honest with herself. She was unable to quit though, to just leave Peter and all they had awkwardly tried to build all these years behind. He had promised he was not seeing that prostitute anymore and she had since then foolishly clung to the hope that maybe one day things would fall back into normalcy. She knew it never would, even if Peter did not want to face it, it was clearly never going to fade away, as his last visit — although cut short before it even had begun — had shown.

 

She remembered Ulrich telling her the other day that he had completely messed up his life, that nothing had come out as he had expected it. That he had turned exactly into the person he did not want to become — cheating on his wife, being unable to solve the Erik case, seeing his younger child disappear. She had stood there in silence, not saying anything. What could she have said ? Nothing had turned out the way she had wanted it too. Her life was as much a mess as his and all she could find to make all those thoughts go away was to focus on her work and, damn, it had almost cost Elisabeth her life.

 

Charlotte finally got up to her desk and turned her phone back on — she needed to contact Ulrich and tell him about everything she had learned last night. If they both put their brains to it, maybe they would finally solve everything. She had a lot of missed calls, mainly from the station. She looked for Ulrich's name in her contact list, pressed call and waited anxiously — maybe he would pick up right away, maybe she had imagined his face in the picture. It got straight to voice mail and she sighed once more. She had five messages and she proceeded to listening to them.

 

« Hello Charlotte, it's Katharina. I can't seem to get a hold of Ulrich, is he with you ? Call me back, please. »

 

« Hi Charlotte, Aleksander Tiedemann here. We need to talk as soon as possible. Call me back. »

 

« Charlotte, it's Katharina, again. Could you please call me back ? »

 

« I'm really worried about Ulrich, why can't you both just answer your stupid phones ? »

 

« Hi Charlotte, it's Hannah. I can't seem to get a hold of Jonas, nor do Bartosz or Martha. I'm really worried, especially after everything that happened in the last few weeks. I came by the station this afternoon but they told me you didn't show up today. Since you don't seem keen on picking up, can you tell me exactly of what use you are to this case ? I'm coming by tonight if you have not called me back by then. »

 

Charlotte fell back on her bed, head in her hands — she could not handle another disappearance right now. She was not the kind to have a mental breakdown. She was always cool headed and always knew how to adapt to any situations she was thrown in. But having to look for missing people due to time travel ? She was not sure she was ready for that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fell in love with Charlotte's character right away and I hope I managed to do her justice... Next chapter will be from Ulrich's point of view ! Please let me know what you thought ! Any feedback would be enjoyable ♡


	2. 1953 — DAY ONE

When do you know that you messed up your life so bad that there is no going back ? Is it when you start cheating on your wife on false pretenses and everything eventually falls apart ? Or when you get stuck in the past after having traveled back in time ? Maybe it is when you end up smashing a rock on the head of a child, harshly, repeatedly, even if he has done nothing wrong apart from collecting dead birds, blood splashing on your face ? After he had received a beating of his own, in the darkness of his cell, Ulrich could not stop wondering at what point he had stepped beside the tracks and lost his way, retracing each and every step that had lead him there.

 

He could smell blood on him — Helge's ? His ? He did not know anymore. How had he ended up like that ? Mikkel's disappearance had taken control of him, his absence creating a wedge between his reason and instincts. He had always been really impulsive, acting on his feelings before he even had the time to think about it. Hell, it was almost out of spite that he had wanted to become a policeman in the first place, to prove the world that he could do, that he could be better than freakings Egon.

 

He had failed miserably. Not only had been as helpless as Egon had been when Madds had vanished, but he was now detained by the very man he despised, or rather his younger self, and there was no way out for him. He would end up dying in this cell and no one would ever know — no one that mattered anyway. Charlotte would maybe — probably — piece everything together one day, she had always been smarter than him anyway hence her becoming his superior. However, by the time this would happen, it would be too late anyway. How was she supposed to find out time travel was a real thing with only his cryptic voice mail as a clue ? Moreover, he had told her about Helge taking the children in 1986, not 1953 — there was no way she would find him. No, he was definitely lost.

 

Ulrich had been for a long time, actually, now that he thought it through. Probably from the beginning. All he had ever wanted was to get the hell out of Winden and yet he did not even manage that. How was he supposed to succeed in anything ? He had stayed for Katharina — the love of his life, he had known it from the start and held tight to it during all these years. And yet, with each year passing by, they had broken more and more promises they had made to each other as teens. He had not seen it clearly before, but now that it was the only thing he could do to pass the time, he did. The children had been the first broken promise and he could not say he regretted it. Holding his babies in his arms for the first time had been a wonderful experience and remained his favourite memories. Martha, Magnus and Mikkel were the only sense of family they had still left, after all theses years spent together.

 

He could have tried pining his failed marriage onto Mikkel's disappearance but the truth was it had happened long before that. One day they had gotten up without kissing each other good morning, a few days later there were no more inquiries about each other's day and it had escalated from there, each of them retreating behind walls that had been non-existent before. They barely talked, except when they discussed the children and even then there was no real conversation : they each stubbornly stated their minds and the children could chose whatever suited them best at the time. Katharina did not smile in his presence anymore, nor did he smile in hers and his presence turned into long absences — and for that work was the perfect excuse.

 

Underneath that shameful lie, Hannah had been the perfect distraction. She had been a close friend ever since the day they had bonded over the apocalypse supposedly wiping out Winden. She had followed him and Katharina around for a bit, in high-school, until she had found friends of her own. She had been there whenever he had needed an breath of fresh air after each fight with his wife until one day she had resolved to kiss him. « To evacuate the tension, » she had said. He had not protested, for it had felt great being desired again. He felt existing more and more in each of her longing stares, as though life had finally become exciting again.

 

The thrill of the double life he was leading had almost made up for the fact he still lived in old boring little Winden. Sneaking out of windows and stealing kisses in hidden places gave him back a sense of youth he thought he had forever lost. Now that he was thinking more and more into it, he felt like he had just followed old family patterns, trapped in a town and in motions he could not escape — cheating on Katharina as his father had done to his mother, watching yet another family member disappear in mysterious conditions, and even more so almost on the thirty-three year anniversary of the first one.

 

« It's happening again, » Helge had said again and again and again and he may have been talking about the abductions, Ulrich had repeated his fair share of mistakes. And what dumb mistakes he had done... He had always been too trusting and Hannah had used that against him. Worse, they had both manipulated and hurt Katharina for nothing. He had destroyed everything for no reason and especially not for love — he could never return Hannah's feelings.

 

He remembers complaining about all the wrong paths he had taken in his life to Charlotte a few days back, and how he hastily tried to patch things up afterwards. He must have been really pathetic, bawling his eyes out, although he only had himself to blame. He understood why she had suspended him from the case, especially now. She had not wanted him to make some hasty decisions he would end up regretting, like traveling back in time and killing a kid, based only on presumptions he would one day turn evil. When had he become so blind as thinking he could bring himself justice to his family by playing God ? What had made him think he had the power and the right to decide who could live and die ? This had easily been a stupid irrational decision he would not have made, had he only followed her advice and gone home. _Home_...

 

That word felt so meaningless now. It had been a long time since his house had felt like home — maybe when the kids were young and full of life and family life had still felt new and exciting. Probably before Madds had gone missing, if he was being honest. Yet, he had clung to the house his whole life, as though he waited for it to turn back into a home one day, if he tried hard enough. O, what would he give right now to be home instead of this cold and gloomy cell.

 

Ulrich coughed, ribs hurting as he tried sitting up. What had he done ? Was he now a murderer ? Had he once more, despite so desperately trying to avoid the worst, done the exact opposite of what he expected ? Ulrich had truly hopped that making this sacrifice, killing Helge and returning to his time carrying all on his own the burden of what he had done, would save lives. Yet, it had just made him exactly like him — a child murderer.

 

The door opened and Egon entered, followed by the three policemen that had beat him up the day before, leaving him badly hurt as the lights flickered madly in the night.

 

« Tell us what you did to the boy, right now ! »

« No, wait, you don't understand... I... I... »

The first blow hit him in the stomach and he let a cry of pain out.

« I had to do it, you've... you've got... to... to understand ! » he tried explaining through gritted teeth but the punches kept coming and coming, as Egon watched him with disgust, repeating his question over and over.

« Tell us where Helge is ! »

« You... have... to... understand... » He managed to say before another blow to his left knee made him shut up.

 

Then pain became too much to handle and Ulrich passed out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ulrich's character is probably my second favourite in the series. I did not expect to sympathize with him at all, since he's typically what I don't like in people, yet his story was so incredibly written that I could not help rooting for him — except /that/ one thing, that was /really/ dumb. I tried guessing what he would be thinking about in his cell, after all of season one had happened, I don't know if it ended up really being in character though. Next chapter will be back to Charlotte's point of view ! Please let me know what you thought and thank you for your comments on the first chapter, it's really motivating ! ♡
> 
> Also — English isn't my first language and I haven't written in English for quite a long time so I'm a bit rusty, I truly hope there aren't much grammar mistakes and such ugh... If there are, I am truly sorry and I hope it isn't preventing your from reading the story :(.


	3. 2019 — DAY TWO

She was back at the station. It had taken her a whole day and a whole night to process everything she had learned and then the quiet of her room had become quite oppressive. Moreover, Hannah had come in the evening to tell her about Jonas. They had sat at the kitchen table, Charlotte recording the whole conversation on her phone and taking notes, and Hannah, hands folded on her lap, recounting what she knew — or rather what she did not. To be fair, she had been way too much caught in her own drama to really pay attention to what Jonas had been up to. She had told Charlotte about everything she had learned from Martha and Bartosz when when she had interrogated them — and by the way did Franziska know anything ? She was pretty sure her daughter and Jonas were not exactly close friends but after all that had happened, who knew ? After all, they had been all together the night Mikkel disappeared. However, Fran was as little home as she was and she had not yet found the courage to call her and talk about everything, leaving her alone to deal with it.

 

It seemed crazy running away from her family like that, especially now that she needed moral support the most, but she felt like she had too much to amend for and did not know where to start, but she guessed that it was what tragedies like this did — they left you helpless. They all had, all the adults in this town, many things to feel sorry for. Were there even one happy family, one that tragedy had not hit ? Maybe the Tiedemanns — she still needed to call Aleksander back — had it better than the rest of them, family wise, but with the situation at the hotel, Charlotte was not even sure of that.

 

Moreover, she felt like they all had miserably failed their children. Four of them were already gone, and they were not even capable of getting them back, or even of having any lead as to what had happened. Of course, she had one, now, but who would be mad enough to let her on the case if she told the press that time travel was a thing ? They would lock her up in a mental house, no doubt, and she would understand. She could almost feel one of Peter's pity stares on her, and his voice telling her that work made her crazy. And to think he had once been her moral support, the one she could always lean onto. To be honest, he was actually the only one right now that would believe her — after all, he had been the one to tell her everything. Yet, so much had changed in their relationship, she barely recognized who they had become. All she knew was that bitterness and cold anger had replaced the smiles and the warm hugs and there was nothing to be done about it.

 

She wished for Ulrich to be there to work with her on this case, because there was no way she could crack this puzzle on her own. She stared at the board in front of her, the pictures of the missing kids, Noah, that picture of Ulrich, and all the questions that needed answers. She barely had any to give. When she had come back this morning, they almost did not want her back on the case. The town was angry — and rightly so. Children were vanishing and the police — she — seemed to be completely unable to crack the case. Everyone wondered who would be next. On the one hand, Erik, Mikkel, Yasin, Jonas — all gone. No bodies found. On the other hand, an unidentified body she now knew belonged to Madds Nielsen, thanks to Peter, but no scientific explanation to give as to why the body of a boy who died in 1986 was in such a great state — since she could not use time travel as a solution, they would think her insane. She could only shut up about his real identity. And to add to all of this, there was the case of her missing partner, Ulrich. How were all those elements linked ? Madds and Ulrich had obviously somehow traveled back in time but how ? And did the others too ?

 

She took a paper out of her desk, writing down a list of tasks she had to do next. « You have two weeks, not a day more, » they had said. First, she had to go over Jonas's friends testimonies again, not that she did not trust Hannah on this, but because she might have missed something. Charlotte had herself been unable to search for Elisabeth properly. Then she had to ask about Noah, maybe placate his face all over town — even if she still did not know what his deal was. He had not done anything to Elisabeth, except giving her that watch. Moreover, Ulrich was so sure that Helge was responsible for everything... She added « talk to Helge » on her list.

 

The watch thing bugged her. Did that Noah know about time travel ? Had he been trying to help her ? De he want her to reread her grandfather's book ? She wondered now if she could have prevented some of the tragic events had she just read that stupid book. « Read that stupid book » was added to the list, followed by « Find Ulrich and get him back to 1919 ».

 

The door opened and her somewhat annoying colleague, Wöller, entered her office, startling her a little.

« Have you seen Ulrich ? » he asked.

« Well, he's suspended... So... »

« Right. And you haven't seen him since... ? »

« I'm not Ulrich's mother, I'm not watching his every steps, » she rolled her eyes, annoyed. « If you want to talk to him, call him then. »

« I will. »

As he turned to leave, he noticed something on the board, which made her hide her list.

« Wait, is that him in that old newspaper clip, there ? » he asked, profoundly surprised, getting closer to take a better look at the picture.

She laughed, although nervously.

« Don't be ridiculous now. How would he look exactly the same in 1953 and today ? It does not make sense, you went to school with him and so did I and we saw him as a teen in the eighties, remember ? »

« Yeah, I know but... still, it really looks like him. »

« But it isn't him, ok ? » She sighed. « I have to go see Katharina, call me if you learn something new about the case. »

She motioned to leave and he followed her. Then, as they walked down the hallway, he asked again.

« Why did you write his name beside it, though ? »

« Which name ? »

« Ulrich's ? » He looked at her as though she was crazy.

« I wanted to ask him about pictures, it must be his grandfather or something. Maybe he knows something about the case, but it's not the must urgent thing on the clock. You realize there's another teen missing, right ? »

« I know. »

 

He shrugged, clearly not convinced by her explanations, but he let her go. She was almost at her car when she turned back, a feeling of unease gnawing at her, and returned to her office. She could not let everything on the board, it was too dangerous. She began taking off very tiny piece not directly linked to Erik, Mikkel, Yasin or Jonas, putting them into a folder. She did not need anyone putting their nose in her business and she especially did not need anyone investigating Ulrich now. The folder now safe in the trunk of her car, she made her way to the high-school — she had many things to discuss with Katharina.

 

Charlotte got to see her right away and the least there was to say was that the woman sitting behind the desk did not look well at all. Sleep seemed to have become a luxury few people could afford in Winden at the moment, judging by the dark circles under her eyes, probably reflecting her own. Maybe Katharina had come back to work way too early, maybe she just could not take it anymore at home. She could not imagine what it must feel like for her — Mikkel, her baby boy, gone, Ulrich too. She had to take care of herself and of Magnus and Martha — plus the school, it could be a little hard to manage, but she was not here to judge.

 

« Do you have news about Ulrich ? » the blonde asked and Charlotte shook her head. « Have you asked Hannah ? »

« Hannah ? » she frowned.

« Come on, Charlotte, don't play dumb with me. You were always the observant one, remember those dead birds you spent your time drawing, » Katharina snapped.

Charlotte kept her lips tightly shut at the mention of her past.

« You knew, then ? Did everyone in that stupid town know ? »

She began massaging her temples as Charlotte sighed, sadly.

« Well, Hannah told me Ulrich wanted to leave me for her, that he... loved... her. She added that she had broken it off, but I... I don't know what to believe anymore. »

 

Charlotte could only imagine how humiliating it must have been for Katharina to go there, inquiring about the affair between her husband and that woman she had probably considered a friend. At least, when Peter had gone to that prostitute, she had had the luxury not to know him — which still did not make the betrayal easier to accept. But she could remember how it had felt, a few weeks ago, when she had gone there to ask if Peter had been back, how broken and desperate she had felt looking at all she could never be in the eyes of her husband.

 

Katharina was still going on about Hannah : « Just as I learn about the affair, he disappears ? Seems a little suspicious to me, don't you think ? I never would have guessed he was such a coward... »

« ... Katharina, stop, » Charlotte interrupted her. « He's not there, I've already checked. »

« You did ? »

« This morning. Jonas's missing too, now. I had to check her house. She's all alone there, and looking quite distressed if I might add. »

« Jonas is missing ? »

She nodded, « that's actually the reason I am here today. I'd like to speak with his friends, his teachers, his classmates... Maybe they have noticed something ? »

« Charlotte, that's the fourth kid now... »

« Don't you think I already know that ? » she snapped.

 

Katharina sighed. Charlotte had never been a close friend of hers, she had even kept to herself so much back then that she had not been bullied that much by Ulrich, Katharina and the likes of them. She had been the weird one, obsessed with dead birds and all those weird events, but there must have been something about her that had kept everyone from making her life a living hell, unlike poor Regina. But now, Charlotte could not help but sympathize with the other woman. Both of them got cheated on, both of them had to deal with broken homes, both of them were clearly overwhelmed by the situation.

 

Most of the things she learned from Jonas's classmates were useless. He had been smoking pot lately, they could not remember how he acted in the last few days except he was weird. Martha had told her that he had been stranger than usual when she had met him that day, that there had been a kind of desperate determination in his eyes when he had told her goodbye, as though he had been planning on leaving forever. She had told her about the kiss too and how he had said it was wrong. She was the last person to have seen him on the day he went missing and Charlotte felt deeply sorry for her — her brother, her father, even her boyfriend, gone, that must have been hard to take. Bartosz had told her about the fight concerning Martha and that he did not talk to him anymore because of it. At one point, she had felt like maybe he knew who Noah was, but he denied it and she dropped it — it had probably been wishful thinking. Franziska and Magnus were not at school — she needed to have a talk with her daughter, skipping school did not sound like her at all.

 

She was no nearer to solve the case now than she had been before, but at least she had followed the normal procedure and it was a start, as little as it was. Charlotte then remembered Aleksander's phonecall and tried to call him back. It was a little late but that man usually spent all his time at the power plant so she might have had a chance to reach him — apparently he had gone home early tonight, his secretary had said. She left a message, telling him she would drop by first thing in the morning and started her car, driving home through the rainy forest.

 

When she turned on the lights in the hallway, the precious folder under her arm, she heard noises in the living-room. Frowning, she turned the lights on there too, only to find Elisabeth sitting on the couch.

 

« Aren't you supposed to be sleeping right now ? » she signed.

« I can't. I had a nightmare, » her daughter answered.

Charlotte smiled softly as she sat beside her. It was sometimes hard for her to remember how young her daughter still was.

« You look tired, » Elisabeth signed, a curious look on her face.

« That's because I'm working hard. »

« Did you find Yasin yet ? »

She would have normally denied the girl an answer, she did not discuss cases with her, but tonight she answered, sadness in her eyes : « Not yet, no. I'm sorry... »

The little girl looked deflated.

« I promise I'll find him, I'll find them all, » she smiled reassuringly.

« Except Mikkel, he's an ass, you don't have to find him, » her daughter signed back, laughing a little.

Charlotte shook her head, « come on, let's get you to bed. »

 

She laid beside her on the bed, stroking her hair, until she fell asleep, remembering how fear had eaten her up that day, when she had gone missing as well. She knew she would never forgive herself if anything ever happened to her again, that she should take more care of her, especially with everything happening. Yet, she did not know what to say. Peter was the one who was good with words, she had always felt awkward. But she had been trying hard, very hard, with her daughters — and she felt like not having failed too hard.

 

When she began snoring softly, she got up and kissed her forehead before going to her own room. There, she began setting up on the wall all the things she had put in the folder. Here, no one would ask about what she did not want to reveal yet. She could write all her questions without fear of what others would think, she could freely research time travel. She finally fell asleep, exhausted and having forgotten to eat, at three in the morning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo back to Charlotte and how she pursues the investigation. I hope you liked it ! 
> 
> The annoying colleague is the one with the wounded eye obviously, but I could not remember or find his name again, sorry... - Edit : found it, it's Wöller !
> 
> I won't be able to update anymore this week cause I have this long a** presentation to make for class next week, but to make up for it this chapter is a little longer than usual ! Tell me what you thought about it ♡


	4. 1953 — DAY TWO

Ulrich was lying on the bed. He could not do much else, even barely moving was out of the question. The pain was too strong. He was pretty sure he had at least many broken ribs, he could taste the iron of blood on his lips and his head hurt. He was probably not much to look at right now, with his bruised body and broody expression, but at least he was still alive, although he was not sure it was a good thing. He was probably going to die there anyway, without seeing his son again, all that he had done becoming completely useless, so why could he not at least die rapidly ?

 

Maybe he deserved it. All this pain and the solitude and the feeling of being stuck without hope of ever escaping and going back to his own life. He did kill a boy, after all. He did try, at least. Helge still being somehow alive somewhere did not change the fact that he wanted to end his life. He had not thought about it long, when he had met the boy on the stairs. There was no way he could have changed the course of time if he had let Helge live. Killing him had been the only solution, right ?

 

Ulrich passed out, once again.

 

When he woke up, his thoughts wandered immediately to where he had left them. He had not dreamed, he was only met by a black void there — even in his sleep he could not escape the darkness of his situation. At least, when he had managed to sleep, after Mikkel's disappearance, he had had the luxury to have nightmares, endless searches for his son, hearing his voice crying for help but never finding him, failing and failing and failing to make things right.

 

He had tried to make things right when he had hit Helge with that stone — and he had failed there too. Who was he to think he could stop everything like this ? Who was he to think he had the right to kill a poor boy ? No loss of one's child could ever justify taking the life of one another's, you had to let justice do its work. He knew that, he was a fucking cop after all. He spent days telling this to people coming to the station. Hell — he had even explained this to Erik's parents a few weeks ago. Why could he not follow his own advice ?

 

Things had not been moving fast enough, Charlotte had not cared hard enough. All she wanted had been to solve this strange puzzle, she had taken her time not to miss any piece, but he, he had wanted to find his son, nothing more. He had wanted things to go fast so he could held Mikkel in his arms again and apologize for failing him that hard. There was no way he would have sat patiently and waited for the dreaded announcement Charlotte would eventually make : « I'm sorry. We can't find him. » He could not let his son become another cold case.

 

He was so sure it was Helge that had been responsible for all of this. All the disappearances : his brother, his son, Erik, and the other kid he could not remember. What he could not understand was what had happened to Mikkel. At least he knew about Madds and how his body had ended up in 2019, he knew from Egon that the two bodies found in 1953 certainly belonged to Erik and Yasin — he remembered his name now — but what of Mikkel ? Where was he ? Or when ?

 

Had he made things worse by meddling ? His attempt at killing Helge, provided the boy still lived and would die soon enough if he kept his mouth shut about where the boy was, would make things better, right ? Yet he could not help the feeling gnawing at him, the way his stomach twisted when he thought about old Helge, the one he had known most his life. The way his left ear was completely destroyed. The way he had gripped him in his bed, scared of him, repeating « it's you » over and over. Had he, Ulrich, caused all of this ?

 

Was it his fault if Helge had turned out being that way ?

 

Yet how could that be possible ? He had not gone back in time before, he had just attacked Helge a few days ago. How could the fully grown Helge be already hurt if it had not even happened yet ? Ulrich could not understand a single thing about that whole time travel thing that was going on. Was everything already scripted and they just followed stupid paths like pawns being moved by an upper hand ? Was this all some kind of game in which they had no agency ? Could they even decide something, really make a decision on their own ?

 

No, he was probably being paranoid. The best was just to wait for Helge to die. Then, everything would change, he was sure of it. He had to be sure of it. He had to believe everything could and would change. Otherwise, what would that leave him to be ? He knew what murderer deserved. And if he had done all of this for nothing, frankly, he deserved it too. It would be the only way to stop him from becoming even crazier.

 

Maybe it would even be the only way for him to see Mikkel again.

  
He heard voices in the hallway and winced. He had no idea how much longer he could take this. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the beating that was to come. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to post this — short — chapter, but college has been a b*tch this week ugh. Anyway, I'm hoping to post the next chapter tonight or tomorrow. 
> 
> I hope you liked this one, even though nothing much happened... I can't wait for you to read what will happen next ♡


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